so i was in malaysia seeing a big demonstration against what? against palestine. against the israelis occupation of palestine a malaysian told me that palestine is existential. it's totem i can to muslims. >> rose: so you were in malaysia it could be indonesia, too, the largest muslim population. is that more of a question of religion or geography or when you talk about geography you're talking about religion? >> it's about technology creating new geographical communities where you can have a pan islam. my previous book was about the indian ocean. >> rose: "monsoon" as i remember. >> right and the islam in southeast asia is very different --. >> rose: you talk to them and that's what they tell you. >> but because of technology muslims from one part of the greater middle east to the other part and to the muslim community in southeast asia can now interact with each other and rediscover their faith as a unit rather than a separate groups. so it creates a new geography of islam. it's still about space so each place interacts with every other so in order to understand